1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of displaying technology, and in particular to a slim-bezel flexible display device and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. The Related Arts
Nowadays, with the rapid growth of the demands in respect of portable mobile devices and wearable display products, flexible display devices have continuously attracting the attention of the industry and have become one of the hottest trends of the future development of the field of displaying technology. Various techniques are available for flexible displays, including the traditional liquid crystal display technology, bistable liquid crystal display technology, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology, electrophoretic display technology, electrochromism (EC) display technology, and electroluminescent (EL) display technology.
Slim-bezel flexible display devices have various advantages, including enlarged effective displaying area and aesthetics, and are one of the hot spots of research and development of the industry.
A conventional flexible display device is illustrated in FIG. 1 and comprises an upper substrate 100, a lower substrate 200, sealing resin 300 sealing and connecting between the upper substrate 100 and the lower substrate 200, and a drive circuit board 400 that is electrically connected by a flexible connection circuit 410 to the lower substrate 200, wherein the lower substrate 200 comprises a first base plate 210 and a circuit layout layer 230 formed on the first base plate 210. The upper substrate 100 is arranged to face the surface of the lower substrate 200 on which the circuit layout layer 230 is formed. The drive circuit board 400 is arranged adjacent to the surface of the first base plate 210 that is distant from the circuit layout layer 230 and is electrically connected via the flexible connection circuit 410 to the circuit layout layer 230.
In the above-described flexible display device, in addition to the arrangement of an effective display zone, the side of the lower substrate 200 that is associated with the circuit layout layer 230 necessarily and additionally comprises a connection zone for connection with the flexible connection circuit 410. Since the connection zone does not provide effective displaying and takes a certain width, an area of a bezel of the flexible display device is increased. Further, since the flexible connection circuit 410 has an end that is connected with the circuit layout layer 210 formed on an upper surface of the lower substrate 200 and an opposite end that is connected to a drive circuit board 300 located on the side of the lower surface of the lower substrate 200, the flexible connection circuit 410 must be set around an edge of the lower substrate 200 and shows a U-shaped configuration. Since the flexible connection circuit 410 occupies a certain amount of space at the edge of the lower substrate 200, the bezel of the flexible display device is further expanded, making it hard to achieve slim-bezel displaying.